IS ALL PUBLICITY GOOD? by J.L.Greger
IS ALL PUBLICITY GOOD? Scientists are required to submit a full disclosure of their biases when they submit a manuscript for review. Their disclosures are brief. Here’s mine: My novel Coming Flu (published in July 2012 by Oak Tree Press) is a medical thriller; it is also an example of a new sub-genre: science in fiction or Lab Lit. I was a professor in biology for more than thirty years. Besides brief disclosures (I’m afraid the tag lines for many writers exceed three or four lines.), what can writers learn from scientists? Maybe a little bit about creating a public image - or at least what not to do. Most writers would agree with Oscar Wilde. “There is only thing worse in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about” ( The Picture of Dorian Gray). Many scientists probably would not. Scientists have seen the effect of free publicity in books and movies, like Frankenstein , The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , and D...